Dazzling new images reveal the 'impossible' on the Sun

NewScientistSpace ^ | 21 March 2007 | Hazel Muir

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

The restless bubbling and frothing of the Sun's chaotic surface is astonishing astronomers who have been treated to detailed new images from a Japanese space telescope called Hinode.

The observatory will have as dramatic an impact on our understanding of the Sun as the Hubble Space Telescope has had on our view of the universe beyond, scientists told a NASA press conference in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday.

"Everything we thought we knew about X-ray images of the Sun is now out of date," says Leon Golub from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US. "We've seen many new and unexpected things. For that reason alone, the mission is already a success."

[Gritty]

[isom35]

send the Enterprise to investigate!

[rod1]

Somebody better tell ALGORE that thet sun has an rather major effect on warming and "his" scientist apparently don't know sqat about the sun. I suspect what the the Goroid and other scientists didn't know about the sun will put a real hurt on Gore's carbon credits scam.

[BigLittle]

These awards are fireproof, right?

[Teacher317]

new images from a Japanese space telescope called Hinode

Not Hubbre?

[DJtex]

All the studies I've seen show that the Sun's heat and light output has not varied +-1.5% over millions of years. The major variable is the Sun's powerful magnetic field. When there are lot's of sunspots, the Sun's magnetic field envelops the Earth and blocks cosmic rays and causing much clearer skies. When more Cosmic rays hit the Earth they cause much more cloud formation which cools the planet.

[tumblindice]

"Not Hubbre?"

We give a recommendation to the Japanese space telescope. The American telescope, unfortunately, was sadly deficient in many areas, failed the `roll-over' test, and can go pound sand."
Consumer Reports

[Bigh4u2]

"These awards are fireproof, right?"

Fire proof? Maybe.

Sun proof? NO..

;0)

[jonrick46]

Are we sure these images are not the surface of Al Gore's brain?

[Erasmus]

algore has a disease called 'stupidity' he never looks up to the sky.

We know at least that he's never looked up to the sky when it was raining, because he hasn't drowned.

[siunevada]

Another surprise sighting is that of giant magnetic field loops crashing down onto the Sun's surface as if they were collapsing from exhaustion, a finding that Golub describes as "impossible". Previously, scientists thought they should emerge from the Sun and continue blowing out into space.

I guess the predictions need a little tweaking to take into account the observation of the impossible.

Science. It ain't always purty, but somebody's gotta do it.